L’Observateur / April 28, 1999

LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist Parish employees and sheriff’s personnelevacuated the Percy Hebert Courthouse Annex Tuesday morning, as carbon monoxide engine exhaust fumes cast a gray haze throughout the building.

Contractors working on the building’s restrooms were using a gasoline- powered engine to cut through the flooring as part of a modernization project, adding wheelchair accessibility, Administrative Officer Pat McTopy said.

“We’re asking everyone to leave for an hour or so,” McTopy said.

Inmate workers quickly set up an exhaust fan at the building’s front door while some employees took refuge in the parish’s civil defense center .

Others took the opportunity to run personal errands.

The noxious fumes swept through the building, beginning about 9 a.m.,sending many employees scurrying out, holding their hands over their mouths and noses.

Some huddled in the parking lots, while inmates set up an exhaust system to clear the fumes.

McTopy added he hoped the work could reach a point where the employees could be allowed back into the building by lunch time.

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